


Of Toned Arms and Stupidity

by carefulren



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, and i ended up typing one, i really just wanted a lifeguard au, lifeguard AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-15 13:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4609209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carefulren/pseuds/carefulren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Enjolras thinks lifeguard Grantaire is making fun of him, so he decides to go surfing to make himself look cool in front of Grantaire. Only, Enjolras doesn't know how to surf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Toned Arms and Stupidity

The sun beating down on his bare arms felt heavenly after what felt like centuries cooped up in either his dorm room or the school library. Contrary to popular belief, Enjolras actually enjoyed partaking in “actual fun life stuff” – as Courfeyrac so nicely put it. He wasn’t strictly an uptight, unapproachable, loud, social activist. Honestly, he had no idea where Courfeyrac and Combeferre got that idea. There was nothing wrong with wanting to maintain good grades while trying to change society for the better, but he still made time for fun when he had the chance. 

The warm sand between his toes was a nice change to the cold, dorm floors. The light breeze blowing his loose locks around was honestly the perfect temperature. Enjolras could not even imagine a more perfect moment. He felt so relaxed for the first time in months, and he was looking forward to nothing more than just curling up under the umbrella with a book and enjoying the day. 

Everything in this moment was truly the epitome of perfection… until it wasn’t. 

“Nice umbrella.”

Enjolras snapped his head around to the owner of the voice- eyes darting wildly around until they started up, falling onto a lifeguard sitting in a tall chair close by. 

“Why thank you!” Enjolras heard Courfeyrac call out. He watched closely as Courfeyrac approached the man, who was climbing down the ladder on the back of the chair. 

“Grantaire,” the lifeguard said, extending his hand to Courfeyrac, who accepted it gingerly. 

“Courfeyrac, but call me Courf.” Courfeyrac glanced behind him, pointing right at Enjolras. “That’s Enjolras. And glasses over there,” he paused motioning towards Combeferre. “That’s Combeferre.” 

Grantaire smiled, nodding towards the two boys before he and Courf fell into easy conversation as if they had been friends for years. Enjolras watched the two talking animatedly from a distance. New people weren’t his forte, and besides, there was something about Grantaire that was setting him on edge. 

Enjolras watched Grantaire with narrowed eyes- brows quickly furrowing when Grantaire’s eyes locked on his. Grantaire gave him a smile, and really what was up with this boy. That was like the third smile within two minutes. Enjolras scoffed and turned away, taking his place on the towel Combeferre had spread down for him. He picked up his book and began falling into the words, drowning out the rest of the world. 

“I should probably get back up there.” Enjolras pulled away from his book at the sound of Grantaire’s voice, glancing over at Courfeyrac and Grantaire, who was gesturing towards his tower for a chair. “I’ve gotta make sure, ya know… gotta make sure people stay safe and what not.” 

Enjolras instantly regretted his decision to look up because he met Grantaire’s wandering eyes once more, and did he just? Did Grantaire just really look him over head to toe? And, of course. There’s that insufferable smile again. What does it even mean? 

He watched as Grantaire began climbing the ladder, eyes zeroing in on the ridiculously toned arms, and suddenly it made sense. 

“He’s making fun of me,” Enjolras started when Courfeyrac flopped down beside him. 

“What?” 

“Couldn’t you tell? He kept smiling at me, and he gave my whole body a once over then smiled. He was making fun of me.”

“Enjolras,” Combeferre started, “that is the stupidest thing I’ve heard all week, and believe me, I’ve heard some pretty stupid things.” 

“I think he’s showing off that his physique is better than mine.” Enjolras stated, glancing down at his bare arms- arms that he thought were plenty toned. 

“He does have a better physique than you,” Courfeyrac said, earning a scowl from Enjolras. “What?” Courfeyrac began again with a huff. “I don’t see what the big deal is. I mean, Grantaire is an attractive man, and look at that man bun! How many people do you know who can pull of a man bun with those tattoos? Not many, Enjolras.” 

Enjolras sighed, flopping down on his back. Clearly Grantaire had been making fun of him, but of course Courfeyrac became best friends with him in a short span of five minutes. So convincing him that Grantaire was rude was out of the question now. 

Enjolras watched as Courfeyrac grabbed his surf board. “I’m going to surf for a bit. Maybe when I come back you won’t be acting so stupidly. I mean seriously Enj- two days away from school, and it’s like you forgot how to think clearly.” With that said, Courfeyrac started towards the water, waving off the “be careful” Combeferre had called out to him. 

Enjolras picked his book back up, flipping back to the page he left off. His eyes followed each sentence- each word. But his concentration was just not cooperating with him. It was as if he were looking at the words instead of comprehending them. And that could possibly be due to the fact that he kept stealing glances towards Grantaire for the last twenty minutes. Or the fact that Grantaire had caught him looking four different times, and he smiled that ridiculous lop-sided smile every single time. 

Enjolras sighed loudly and sat up just as Courfeyrac came back, shaking out his wet hair as he stabbed his board into the sand. “Intense waves out there,” he muttered just as Enjolras stood up and pulled his shirt off. 

“Can I borrow your board?” Enjolras asked, receiving questioning glances from both Courfeyrac and Combeferre. 

“You don’t know how to surf,” Courfeyrac started, staring Enjolras down as if he had a death wish. 

“I’ve done it before,” Enjolras countered as he pulled the board out from the sand. 

“Yes, and the board ended up snapped in two,” Combeferre chimed in as he approached Enjolras. He rested his hand on Enjolras’ shoulder and eyed him worriedly. “What are you doing, Enj?” 

Enjolras noted the worried expressions from his friends, but he quickly shrugged them off. “I’m just going to surf. Grantaire isn’t the only one who can show off his body and look cool and such.”

“Oh, is that what this is about?!” Courfeyrac shouted- arms waving around wildly. “He wasn’t making fun of you. Do you want me to go and ask him?” 

“No!” Enjolras snapped before turning towards the water. He shook Combeferre’s hand off his arm. “I’ll be fine,” he added. “I’ll take it slow.” 

“This is a bad idea,” Combeferre tried again, but Enjolras ignored his words as his feet hit the water. His eyes were set with determination, and really, this was an amazing idea. Grantaire would obviously see him and see how great his physique is. Logically speaking, it’s a great plan. 

Enjolras swam out a good ways away before straddling the board as he watched for a good wave. He let a few small ones pass by because truly he did not need practice. How hard could it be? He’s watched Courf do it a bunch of times on all of their previous vacations. Even Marius can do it, and that boy is not exactly the most graceful of the group. 

A wave started to pick up, and Enjolras just knew that this was the one. He paddled around until his back was to it, and positioned himself properly on the board and began paddling towards the shore. When it felt right, he pushed up onto shaking legs but managed to keep his balance. A grin played across his lips as he dared to glance back onto the shore to see what looked like Combeferre talking with waving arms to Grantaire- which is good. This is exactly what Enjolras wanted. 

His smile only grew as he looked back at the wave, and then he fell. 

The wave completely engulfed him- water rushing around him so fast and so hard that he couldn’t get control of his limbs. He tried to push himself forward, but was pulled back under as another wave came with full force. The panic had long since crept into every crevice of his body, and he once again tried to swim upward with flailing arms- feet kicking wildly under him. He felt his foot make contact with something cold and hard followed by a sharp sting of pain shooting up his leg, and he glanced down to see what was wrong just as his vision started going black. He saw red pouring from his foot, felt something grab hold of his arm, then fell still. 

Xxxx

“Enjolras?!”

“Goddamit, wake up!”

Enjolras vaguely felt as if someone were hammering onto his chest. It really hurt, and he wanted whoever was doing it to stop, but he couldn’t move. His body felt like lead, and he couldn’t pry his eyes open no matter how hard he focused on it. Which wasn’t a lot- his focus wasn’t really there at the moment. Really, he wished the hammering on his chest would just stop.

“Thank god,” he heard someone mutter just as he was being shoved onto his side, coughing up an obscene amount of water that felt like daggers shooting up his throat. 

“Easy.” Another voice- one that Enjolras could not quite pin at the moment. His mind was fuzzy, his body was trembling uncontrollably, and his heart rate shot up like a rocket. He finally managed to catch his breath after a few more minutes of coughing up the whole ocean apparently, and he tried to push himself up on shaking arms, but he was quickly pushed back down by strong hands. 

“Not so fast. Can you open your eyes for me?” 

Really, who was talking to him? He slowly pried his eyes open, blinking away the blurring vision until… Grantaire? His eyes locked onto the worried ones hovering over his. Grantaire was so close that he could feel the loose strands of brown hair ticking his face. He could count the water droplets clinging to the brunet’s eyelashes if he could make his mind remember how to count to ten. 

“Can you tell me your name?”

Enjolras stared at Grantaire with furrowed brows. Of course he knew is name. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words, more water came spewing out. He began coughing harshly once more, and felt strong arms pushing him onto his side again then a hand rubbing up and down his back. 

Enjolras clutched at his throat as the coughing finally subsided, leaving him gasping for breath. “Enjolras,” he rasped out, and he felt the hand on his back move to squeeze his shoulder. 

“Good,” Grantaire started. “Year?” 

“2015,” Enjolras answered right after. Talking hurt- it felt as if there were shards of glass lodged into his throat. And there was this nagging tremor of pain that was increasing in his foot. He glanced over to see Combeferre pressing a cloth to his foot- a cloth covered in what appears to be his blood. 

“My foot?” He asked, eyeing Grantaire. 

“You can’t surf?” Grantaire questioned back harshly. 

Enjolras could feel all eyes on him, and it was then that he realized how stupid he had been. He shook his drooping head, refusing to meet anyone’s piercing stares. He felt the grip on his shoulder tighten. 

“So you don’t know how to surf, and you choose to ride the biggest wave of the fucking year?” Grantaire spits out fiercely. 

Enjolras felt his own blood boiling and he snapped his head up, locking eyes with Grantaire’s. “I did it because you were being a judgmental prick!” 

“What?!” Grantaire bit out- wide eyes laced with confusion. 

“You kept smiling at me and showing off your incredibly toned arms, and it was pissing me off. What right do you have to undermine someone else’s body just because yours is so perfect?” Enjolras snapped back, wincing as his throat all but screamed in protest. He felt the grip on his shoulder loosen, and he watched as Grantaire fell back away from him. Enjolras could see the lingering tremble in Grantaire’s hands as the brunet rubbed them up and down his face. 

“Am I not allowed to think you are cute?” Grantaire finally asked, breaking the tense silence. 

“I…What?” Enjolras questioned- only briefly worried that he couldn’t get his mouth to form more words. 

“Did it ever occur to you that I kept smiling at you because I thought you were cute? It’s fine if you don’t swing that way, but damn. You kept looking over at me, so I looked back. Excuse a guy for thinking you were fucking interested.” Grantaire breathed out, shaking his head. 

“Er…What?” Enjolras sputtered out, trying really hard to let Grantaire’s words process in his head. He noted Grantaire’s expression quickly shifting back into the worried one he was sporting only moments ago, and really it did not suit his face at all. He figured now would be a good time to say actual words- anything to get that worried look off of Grantaire’s face. 

“You think I’m cute?” Not as intelligible as Enjolras would have liked, but he figured it would do for now. He watched as Grantaire’s face softened drastically, and his eyes widened when the brunet let out a light laugh. 

“See, you are laughing at me!” Enjolras shouted, ignoring the pain shooting up his throat. 

“Only because you are an idiot,” Grantaire breathed out through a light laugh. 

Enjolras huffed, crossing his arms over his bare chest. He would counter argue later if he had the chance. Right now he was suddenly way too tired, his throat felt as if it were on fire, and he had a stabbing pain in his foot. 

“It will need stitches,” Combeferre stated after a while. “Courf,” he started again. “Can you go and pull the car as close as possible?” 

Courfeyrac pulled Enjolras into a tight hug before calling him a fucking idiot and running off. 

Enjolras saw a flash of white and green out of the corner of his eye right as a light jacket was draped over his shoulders. He looked down to see the name “Grantaire” stitched onto it just as the name owner appeared in his line of vision. 

“Think you can manage letting me giving you a piggy back to your car without feeling offended or judged?” Grantaire asked- a smirk playing across his lips. 

“I can walk,” Enjolras countered. 

“You really can’t,” Combeferre broke in. “Accept his offer. I need to call Marius to tell them to meet us at the hospital.” 

Enjolras opened his mouth to argue, but quickly closed it. He could tell that Combeferre was pissed at him by his clipped tone, and he did not wish to anger his closest friend any further.

A few moments later, and Enjolras was hanging off of Grantaire’s back as the brunet carried him towards the car with ease.

Grantaire gently set Enjolras down in the passenger seat- cautious of the injured foot. Enjolras went to slip out of the jacket, but Grantaire swatted his hands away. “Keep it for now,” he muttered. 

“That means I will have to give it back,” Enjolras started. 

“It does.” Grantaire confirmed. 

“And that means I will have to see you again,” Enjolras said- eyes narrowing as he watched Grantaire closely. 

“How astute of you,” Grantaire responded with a laugh before closing the car door. He gave the car two taps as a signal for Courfeyrac to start driving. 

Enjolras glanced in the side view mirror, watching as Grantaire became smaller and smaller as Courf drove further away. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips as his thumb ghosted across the letters of Grantaire’s name stitched in the jacket.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first Les Mis fic. I've been wanting to type Les Mis for a long ass time now and I finally did it. Characterization will be off, but I'll improve. 
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


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